ROCKFORD — Lawrence Morton is working feverishly this week to move his furniture-restoration business to make room for the $34 million reconstruction of South Main Street.

The move is taking Morton longer, and costing him more money, than he expected. A hiccup this year in relocation assistance payments from the Illinois Department of Transportation didn’t help matters, he said.

Whatever the reason for the delay, Morgan & Main Enterprises, with three employees, may effectively close for at least several weeks.

Morton is in a bind because IDOT officials want him out of his old building before his new shop — an old carriage house across the street that he’s renovating — will be ready to occupy. The wrecking ball will swing this fall and has already cast aside other buildings that stood in the path of the highway project.

The city of Rockford won’t issue Morgan & Main an occupancy permit for the new location until a slew of building code and mechanical issues are resolved. The state is providing relocation assistance to Morton, 60, via payments to contractors he’s hired to do the work.

“I realize we’re supposed to move, but if the funds had been pulled in the first part of the year, we could have been three months further down the road,” he said. “Now we’ve got IDOT breathing down our neck because they dragged their feet on paying us. It’s very nerve-racking.”

Late payment

The state paid Morton $350,000 for his building in July 2012. Additionally, IDOT officials say Morton has received at least 15 relocation-assistance payments, worth $180,000, since February 2012. More money is awaiting approval and will be on the way. A spokesman acknowledged, however, that “a lapse in payment” occurred this year, but IDOT was unable to say how much money was delivered late.

Most likely, Region 2 operations engineer Kevin Marcheck said, the delay occurred as the state’s fiscal year began July 1 and officials waited for sufficient money for the new budget year to be in place. The delay was probably a matter of weeks, not enough to delay Morton’s business relocation.

The delay isn’t from the accounts related to Illinois’ $4.8 billion backlog in vendor payments, IDOT spokeswoman Paris Irvin said. Money for state road projects is held in a separate fund. However, it’s one of many stories about delays in state payments.

“We acquired the property in July 2012, and the previous owners have had since this time to relocate,” Irvin said. “Additionally, two separate 30-day notices have been sent to the owner requesting a date of departure.”

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High hopes

Hopes are high that the South Main rebuild will re-establish one of Rockford’s oldest commercial corridors as the vibrant business district it was decades ago.

Morton’s shop opened in 2001 at the southwest corner of Morgan and South Main streets. In 1928, the hulk of a building was home to Rockford Macaroni Co. It later housed Blackhawk Bottling Co., then Ben Carter Machinery, before Morton bought the building and set up shop.

Morgan & Main is moving across the street into an old carriage house that, although much smaller than the original location, will restore a bit of luster to a neighborhood rich with history. Ethnic retailers and restaurants are nearby. So too is the city’s landmark Graham Ginestra House, built in 1857, and next to that, the Ethnic Heritage Museum.

Morton said he’ll finish moving his business sometime this week. But it will take weeks to finish renovations at the new location. An elevator and an air filtration system have yet to be installed, and substantial electrical and plumbing work remains.

The city has awarded a $12,000 Community Development Block Grant to assist with the project. The city-affiliated Rockford Local Development Corp. also awarded a $20,000 loan to Morgan & Main Enterprises. Both have helped make up for the state’s delinquent payment this year, Morton said.

“It’s a shame he’s had this trouble,” said Joe Bove, the owner of nearby Bove’s Auto Repair who has been a longtime booster of the city’s southwest quadrant.

“We need businesses like Morgan & Main to stay in the neighborhood. That’s the whole idea of the South Main project. To keep businesses here and attract new business.”